Improvement in sewing-machine



eating motion.

tnte" Staten @anni Witt.

.EARLE HARRY SMITH, 0F BERGEN, NEW JERSEY.

' Leners Patat No. 96,160, dma october 26,1869, madame october 13, 1869.

IMPROXTMEYNT IN' SEWING-MACHINE.

The Schedule referred to n`these Letters Patent and making part of the same.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EARLE HARRY SMITH, of' Ber- Y gen, Hudson county, State of New Jersey, have in vented ceitainwlmprovements in Sewing-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following isa full, clear, and exact description thereof', reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which forms part of this specification.

My said invention relates to that class of sewingmachines which make the chain-stitch with a single thread, by means of a looper and an eye-pointed needle, acting together, from opposite sides of the cloth; and the invention may be said to consist of a combination of three elements.

First, a looper or hook,which, when advancing, enters and strains the loop forward and downward, and when retreating, opens or spreads such loop for the entrance of the descending needle.

Second, a returnen moving with such looper, to return the loop after having thus been strained forward, and carry it back under theV point of' the descending needle. l

Third, a take-up, to hold up the needle-thread till the eye of the needle enters the cloth, and not relax the thread while any part of the needle is iu the clot-h.

The above three features perating conjointly to- To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe the same.

-Figure l is a front elevation, and

Figure 2 is a separate view of the looper.

The machine has the usual needle-bar, feeding-device, presserfoot, cloth-plate, &c., whiclrmay be of any chosen form.

The needle A is operated by a crank-pin fixed in aA revolving disk, B, on the driving-shaft C, which pin runs in a curved groove, cut in a block, D, made fast to the needle-bar E, by which a differential motion is imparted to the needle, being slower when in the cloth lthan when out of thevcloth.

The looper F is set on a rock-shaft beneath the cloth-plate, and therefore has a curvilinear 'reciprolhe rock-shaft derives its motion fronrthe revolving driving-shaft C, in any manner in common use.

'lhe looper 'has a thin beak, a broad head, and a short neck, and possesses these characteristics:

First, a capacity to enter the look, advancing, and

Second, to draw or strain said loop forward and downward, that is, from the fabric being sewed.

- Third, a capacity, while retreating, to spread the loop for the entrance of the descending needle.

G is a device which I term a -returner, its object being to return the loop, and deflect the same backward under the needle, as the latter descends through the fabric in commencing the next stitch. Said returner'is represented as composed of a brush (but Vbegins to slip ofi' the said .curved surface h.

other means may be used,) made of very soit material,

such as camels hair. It may be of bristles, or a spring of metal, or any other substance that will not oifer any considerable resistance to the passage ofthe thread along the looper as the lat/ter enters the loop.

Ihe needle-thread is led from the rear of the machine to an eye fixed to the needle-bar, passing outside of, and over a lixed cani take-up, lformedby the wire H, the same presenting a curved surface, h1, and straightl surface, h2, the former of which .surfaces takes up the slack, as the`needle descends, between the eye thereof and the cloth, by the thread becoming momentarily lodged thereon, slipping oif gently as the eye enters the cloth, and the latter of which surfaces, h2, maintains the thread under tension, when the needle is in the cloth, descending, which said maintenance ofthe thread materially assists in closing up the look, so as to remove it out of the way of the point of the looper as it advances to take the new loop-or bow of thread from the needle. Motion is communicated to the looper in any ordinary manner.

'The operation of the machine isas follows: ,Supposing the needle to be in the act of rising, the looper having entered the loop, said loop slips over the head thereof, and also past the rcturnerG. The looper continues to advance until the loop is drawn upon and strained by the neck of the looper, as shown in fig. 2. At this time the needle-thread above is raised above the curved surface h1 of the cam takeup H. When the looper begins to retreat, the needle v commences to. descend, and in so doing, the-needlethread is drawn over the curved surface h1, causing the slack to be taken up (as fast as it would otherwise form below the point of the needle) until the needles v eye reaches the cloth, and at that juncture the thread As the point of the needle protrndes through the cloth, the loopt-around the looper is presented for the entrance of thefpoint of the needle, by means ofthe returner G, which carries the loop backward, as the looper retreats, until such loop assumes the position shown in fig. l. As the needle now descends throughthis loop, thus presented, the needle-thread is not relaxed above, but/slidesdown (in unison with the needle-bar) ovei'/ the surface It, during which the loop aforesaid is closed up toward the cloth. lheneedle now rises again, the looper again advances, and the above-recited,operation is again repeated, and so on, in the forming of each stitch,l as the sewing progresses.

Having t-hus described my invention, 'What Iclaim therein as new, is- The combination of the looper, the brush returner, or its equivalent, and the take-up, the whole operating together substantially as described.

EARLE HARRY SMITH.

Witnesses: 1

WM. H. J oHNsoN, ADDISON C. BnowN. 

